There are 4 ways how we can extend Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Connect Apps (A Connect app can be used in the scenario where there must be established a point-to-point connection between Dynamics 365 Business Central and a 3rd party solution or service.)

Add-On Apps (An Add-on app extends the experience and the existing functionality of Dynamics 365 Business Central. Add-on apps can be used in multiple scenarios, whether it is to integrate to online services, making custom web services, adding business functionality, or extending the user interface.)

Embed Apps (An Embed app defines a customer scenario. Specifically, the scenario of a customer wishing to acquire an end-to-end solution meeting the specific needs of an industry vertical or a micro-vertical.)

Per Tenant Customizations

First three types of apps are available through Microsoft AppSource. Today we will see how we can deploy a per tenant customization to customer’s production tenant.

When you have finished developing and testing your tenant customization, you must deploy the extension (.app file) containing the customization to your customer’s production tenant. You must be able to log into the customer’s tenant as a user with permissions to the Extension Management page to complete the deployment.

Use the Upload Extension action to deploy the extension. The extension can be deployed for the current version or for the next version of the service. In most cases it is sufficient to select the current version, unless you have developed the extension specifically for the next version.

Note

When you deploy an .app file for the next version, the extension will be queued up to be deployed as part of the customer’s tenant being upgraded to the next version. You can typically use this in a situation where you have built an upgrade of the extension to work with the next version.

The extension you are deploying could be the initial release of the customization or an upgrade to a previous version. You must use the same steps for uploading a new extension or an extension upgrade. The service will determine if the extension needs to be upgraded based on the extension’s app ID and version.

Important

If you are developing an extension as an update to a previously deployed extension, you must keep the app ID the same and increase the version to successfully upgrade the extension to the new version.

Steps for deploying your .app file

After the successful login you see the Home page of Microsoft dynamics 365 Business Central.

Open the Extension Management page.

Press the search button from Right-Top corner of the Home page and type Entension Management in search box. Select the first option available from the results.

Choose the Upload Extension action.

It will open Upload and Deploy Extension page.

Select the browse button to select the .app file to upload. Browse to and select the extension’s .app file.

Select if you want to deploy for the current version (most common) or Next minor version or Next major version. Select the language for the deployment.

Choose the Deploy button. You will see the below information message. Press OK to continue.

The extension will be deployed in the background.

To check the status of the deployment, choose Deployment Status and then view the status of the extension deployment. Select the row to see additional details.

In the deployment status details there is a Refresh button in the actions you must press to retrieve the most recent status and details.

It will show status as “InProgress”.

Once it is completed status will change to “Completed”. If the deployment is fail then it will show the status as “Failed”. As of now there are no any options available to check detailed error log why the deployment is failed.

When the extension has been successfully deployed, choose the Refresh button to see the new extension in the list of installed extensions.

Click on the installed extension to see the details.

To remove the extension from the customer’s production tenant first Uninstall it and then Unpublish it. Right click on extension which you want to remove.

Select Uninstall to open Extension Uninstallation window. Press Uninstall button from the window. It will show information message about Uninstallation.

And you can see status of extension as Uninstalled in the list.

After the uninstall we need to unpublish the extension to remove.

Once it is removed successfully you can’t see in Extensions list page.